Rejection.

I just got the rejection email from USP this morning while enjoying my daily cup of coffee. My heart sank.

But I told myself,

Savor the taste of failure, grow and learn from it.

It is not the end of the world yet, I still have other options for a more holistic education. Tembusu and College of Alice and Peter Tan are at the top of my list. Thank God that they have another application window for incoming freshmen. Or else I’ll be stuck without an option.

As I summarised previously, it must’ve been the small little things in my life that I have overlooked, thinking that they were not important. I read on a forum somewhere that “it may surprise you how much that little contribution you made matters”. Many times I’ve thought that I wasn’t good enough, that I didn’t fit the mould of excellent students. It might be right to think yourself as the underdog, because then you’d improve humbly. That is what makes the story of Rocky, or Jeremy Lin, so appealing.

But there is a catch. These people performed when it matters, that’s how they rise to fame. They performed even when the odds are against them. When Rocky went against Apollo Creed, when Jeremy Lin played his last game right before he was about to be let go.

What I’m trying to convince myself here is this:

It’s okay to be humble, but when it comes to crunch time, step up.

This is my major takeaway from this experience. Right now, I have been given another shot at achieving what I want. I’m not going to let it slip away so easily this time.